The Primary Industries and Mines Department will next month begin exploring mineral resources locked up on military land, with early assessments indicating promising quartz and iron ore reserves.
Department director-general Surapong Chiangthong said the Defence Ministry is cooperating with the exploration.
It is believed expected there is more than one million tonnes of quartz in military land in Kanchanaburi. There are also minerals in army land in Ratchaburi, Phetchaburi and Suphan Buri.
Quartz mining offers the prospect of large value added revenue, he said. Raw quartz is priced around 1,500 baht a tonne, but metal grade quartz commands about 50,000 baht a tonne.
Department of mines chief Surapong Chiangthong says cooperation with the military coud result in exploitation of valuable iron and quartz reserves locked up in defence land.
The value would increase to about 900,000 baht a tonne if it were processed into solar grade, although 80% of the mass would be lost in the process.
There are two metal grade quartz facilities in Thailand. One foreign firm has invested more than 50 billion baht in developing a solar grade quartz plant in Chon Buri, with production scheduled in the next two years.
The factory would produce sufficient solar cells for the production of 500 megawatts of electricity each year, at a price competitive with solar cells imported from China.
Mr Surapong said if cooperation with the army leads to new quartz mining it will boost foreign firms' confidence in the supply of raw material and encourage them to invest in solar cell factories in Thailand.
In its search for iron, the department is concentrating on military land on Thub Khwai mountain in Lop Buri, where high quality iron ore reserves are believed to total 60-80 million tonnes.
The price of iron ore is currently at a low level, about 1,200 baht a tonne, but when demand picks up it could rise to 2,500-3,000 baht a tonne, he said.